Preparing for vRanger sweep-to-tape using NetVault Backup
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The vRanger sweep-to-tape process supports two possible installation scenarios. While both options are similar, the instructions in this documentation are designed for the first scenario and can be adapted to fit scenario 2.
Scenario 1: vRanger and NetVault Backup are on the same server:
Scenario 2: vRanger and NetVault Backup are running on different servers:
NetVault Backup is installed on its own server. All other components reside on the vRanger server.
To prepare your environment for vRanger Sweep-to-Tape using NetVault Backup as described in Scenario 1, complete the following tasks:
Windows PowerShell® contains an execution policy that determines whether scripts are allowed to run, and whether they must be digitally signed before they can run. While the default policy is set to block the execution of such scripts, the following topic details the process for enabling this option.
Complete the steps in the following procedure to enable execution of PowerShell scripts.
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Click Start > All Programs > Quest > vRanger Backup & Replication > vRanger Console. |
This step opens a PowerShell console ready to accept commands. You should expect to see an error message, which can be remedied by enabling remote scripts.
The window scheme changes from red text on a black background to white text on a blue background, and a welcome message appears.
To facilitate starting the vRanger job, Quest has designed scripts that start the vRanger on-demand job from within NetVault Backup.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Quest\NetVault Backup\scripts
NetVault Backup only runs scripts located in this folder.
For this scenario, you must create a specific vRanger repository to be captured by the NetVault Backup job. This repository should reside in a shared location where both vRanger and NetVault Backup can access the backups. This repository should be used only for vRanger backups that are expected to be swept-to-tape with NetVault Backup.
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Click Start > All Programs > Quest > vRanger Backup & Replication > vRanger Backup & Replication. |
vRanger immediately attempts to validate the connection.
Performing backup operations
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To sweep backed up data to tape, you need to create both a backup job for vRanger and a backup job for NetVault Backup.
To perform backup operations, complete the following tasks:
You need to create a vRanger backup job that captures a complete backup of the machines you want to sweep to tape.
The Backup Wizard opens.
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On the Virtual Machine Hard Disk Inclusion page, select the disks in the machine to include in the backup job, and then click Next. |
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If the vRanger Transport Selection page appears, select whether to use Automatic transport or to customize the transport method, and then click Next. |
vRanger Transport determines how backup data is sent and where the restore processing activity occurs. The default transport method is Automatic; however, if the server you are backing up is a VMware® VM, you can customize the method as appropriate on the Transport Selection page.
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On the Options Selection page, select your preferred backup options, and then click Next. |
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On the Retention Policy Selection page, determine how many savepoints to keep, and whether to capture Full, Incremental, or Differential backups; click Next. |
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On the Recurrence Schedule Selection page, select This will be an on demand job, and click Next. |
On-demand jobs are scheduled tasks that are not set to start from a recurring schedule. Because a sweep-to-tape backup job is initiated by script from the NetVault Backup task, you must this job on demand. Doing so saves the job settings but lets the NetVault Backup integration start the job on-demand.
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On the Email Notifications Selection page, specify who to notify when the job has finished running by entering one or more names and email addresses to be notified, and click Next. |
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On the Summary page, review the Summary window to make sure that your configuration is correct, and then do the following: |
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Click Finish to save the job and close the Backup Wizard. |
Complete the steps in the following procedure to create a NetVault Backup job with pre-command scripts. In the following scenario, most of the default settings are used so that the job captures a full backup each time the job runs. For more information on customizing the available NetVault Backup options, see the Quest NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide.
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In Job Name, specify a name for the job; for example, vRanger_Sweep_to_Tape. |
Assign a descriptive name that lets you easily identify the job when monitoring its progress or restoring data. The job name can contain alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric characters, but it cannot contain non-Latin characters. There is no length restriction; however, a maximum of 40 characters is recommended.
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In the Selections list, click Create New, select the preferred NetVault Backup machine from the list of servers, and then double-click it to see a list of identified source devices for this server. |
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In the Plugin Options list, select an existing Backup Options Set, or click Create New, and configure the options that you want to use. |
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In the Schedule list, select an existing Schedule Set, or click Create New, and configure the schedule type and schedule method. |
NetVault Backup provides scheduling options such as immediate, one-time, and triggered.
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In the Target Storage list, click Create New, and then do the following: |
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On the Create Target Set page, click Device Selection. |
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Select Specify Device for a list of available devices. |
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Click Set to save the settings and close the dialog box. |
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On the Create Target Set page, click Media Options, and configure the settings to set specific policies to target specific media, label blank media, or specify whether to reuse media with existing data. |
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Next to the Advanced Options list, Create New, and configure the options that you want to use. |
You can select options to customize the backup process; for example, how long to maintain the archive, encryption, and deduplication options; network compression. In this example most of the options remain with their defaults, except for a Pre Script that runs the vRanger On Demand backup.
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On the Advanced Options page, click Pre & Post Scripts, and select Pre Script, and then enter the following in the entry field: |
This process initiates the vRanger backup and waits for the job to complete. After the job is finished, NetVault Backup continues and archives the vRanger repository to tape.
You can monitor the job progress from the Job Status page and view the logs from the View Logs page.
This job runs the backup script, which in turn communicates with vRanger and starts the Backup_and_Sweep-Tape job. You can switch back to vRanger to watch the job start and run. After vRanger has finished, NetVault Backup completes the job by capturing the updated repository to tape.
Performing restore operations
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There are two available ways to restore your data using vRanger.
To perform restore operations, complete one of the following procedures:
Use the following steps to export a previously captured vRanger repository from tape.
On the Create Restore Job — Choose Saveset page, the saveset table provides a list of available savesets. The table shows the saveset name (Job Title and Saveset ID), creation date and time, and saveset size.
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On the Create Selection Set page, select the archive, for example, vRanger_Sweep_to_Tape, that you want to restore, and click Next. |
This step restores the entire vRanger repository.
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On the Create Restore Job page, specify a name for the job. |
Assign a descriptive name that lets you easily identify the job when monitoring its progress or restoring data. The job name can contain alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric characters, but it cannot contain non-Latin characters. There is no length restriction; however, a maximum of 40 characters is recommended.
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In the Target Client list, location to restore the file set from the list of available machines. |
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In the Schedule list, use the default, Immediate, to run the job when it is submitted. |
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In the Source Options list, select the media from which to restore the archive. |
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Click Submit to run the job. |
You can monitor the job progress from the Job Status page and view the logs from the View Logs page.
The following steps detail the process of restoring data from a vRanger repository.
vRanger provides options to restore the complete VM, or individual files or folders.
A list of protected VMs display.
A file structure view of the selected VM appears.
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Click Restore to start the recovery, which extracts the files from the vRanger repository for immediate access. |
After recovery is complete, you have access to the newly restored files.
Using deduplication with Quest NetVault SmartDisk and vRanger
NetVault SmartDisk delivers data de-duplication that significantly reduces storage costs. With powerful, byte-level, variable block de-duplication, and advanced data compression that packs more protected data in the same storage area than competing solutions, you can reduce your disk backup storage footprint by up to 90%.
vRanger versions 5.3 and later support the use of a NetVault SmartDisk server as a repository. Simply by adding a NetVault SmartDisk server to vRanger as a repository, backups written to that repository are automatically de-duplicated.
For more information about integrating vRanger and NetVault SmartDisk, see the Quest vRanger Integration Guide for Quest NetVault SmartDisk.